[Isabella Tiger Moth]

Originally Posted by ansible90

When I hear about people going camping around here, I wonder why. Just about anywhere you go in VT, you pretty much just have to walk out the door to be amongst the trees. As I said in the "In your face" thread, nature is pretty much in your face all over VT.

Okay, this is what I needed to know. Part of the problem is that I'm really kind of on my own in this. When we lived in Albany, my husband didn't really like it and wanted to move. He keeps saying he could probably "stand" living there again for a year or two, but that would be about it. He wants to move, and he wants to be closer to family, but, in his mind, Albany and the entire state of VT are pretty much interchangeable (bad weather). He's a nature guy, and I keep trying to explain to him that VT isn't like Albany and would have other qualities he might actually like, but he's not quite buying it. He's only been there once (and that was just in and out to visit the Bennington Monument). He liked it, but it was June, and he remains unconvinced that VT is the type of state I keep telling him it is. I needed to make sure I wasn't off the mark.

Thank you!

[Isabella Tiger Moth]

Originally Posted by tkln

Around where we are, there are designated areas that are conserved and not open to hunting, but most areas are open. You can go out wearing blaze orange, but it's just good practice and common courtesy to stay out of the woods for the few weeks of the year they are hunting. It's generally most of November (though there are other seasons, November is the big one). Rest of the year you're generally okay, though trapping is another story altogether.

Okay, so hunting season isn't the entire fall and winter? You guys should feel free to treat me like the fool I am because, honestly, I know NOTHING. I guess the heart of my question is: Are there things to do outside in VT in the winter short of downhill skiing (which I hate the same way I hate roller coasters: absolutely), and do people actually do them? Because my husband says they don't, and that the entire VT "myth" I'm weaving before him is just a way for me to get him back up to the northeast. Which it's not.

Right?

[Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by Isabella Tiger Moth

Okay, so hunting season isn't the entire fall and winter? You guys should feel free to treat me like the fool I am because, honestly, I know NOTHING. I guess the heart of my question is: Are there things to do outside in VT in the winter short of downhill skiing (which I hate the same way I hate roller coasters: absolutely), and do people actually do them? Because my husband says they don't, and that the entire VT "myth" I'm weaving before him is just a way for me to get him back up to the northeast. Which it's not.

Right?

Well, people hike, cross-country ski, ice skate, ice fish and whatever else you are able to enjoy outside when it's cold and snow is on the ground. But these opportunities also exist in the Albany area as well and I am sure people enjoy these same activities in winter. It sounds like your husband is not wanting to return to the long, cold winters of the northeast. What do you both do for a living?

[tkln]

I don't ski.

I snowshoe, hike, run, fat bike all winter long. I'm outside all the time. And yes, there are other people besides myself who don't ski in Vermont lol. And they all do tons of outdoor stuff.

(I have tried cross country skiing, and if I had more patience to learn it, I would, as I think it would be an absolutely fantastic winter activity to add to my list!)

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by Isabella Tiger Moth

Okay, so hunting season isn't the entire fall and winter? You guys should feel free to treat me like the fool I am because, honestly, I know NOTHING. I guess the heart of my question is: Are there things to do outside in VT in the winter short of downhill skiing (which I hate the same way I hate roller coasters: absolutely), and do people actually do them? Because my husband says they don't, and that the entire VT "myth" I'm weaving before him is just a way for me to get him back up to the northeast. Which it's not.

Right?

So there are various small game seasons open in early fall and in winter, turkey season is open in May too. But realistically, the fall firearms deer seasons (16 days in November, 9 in December) are when you'll see the most hunters out. Spring turkey season is popular too but legal shooting hours for May turkey hunting are only until noon each day You'll come across hunters for rabbit in winter, grouse in the fall, bowhunters for deer in October, an occasional bear hunter in the fall, etc., but not in big numbers and the weapons used are not of the same range and such as deer season (except with bear hunters of course). I wouldn't be afraid at all to hike in the fall and winter but orange isn't a bad idea, sticking to established hiking trails is good instead of bushwhacking, and if you know there's a bunch of hunters in a place it is respectful to leave them alone. I've had people walk right up to me while hunting public lands and try to tell me I shouldn't be there, which is crazy and rude. Just after daylight and just before dark are when deer are most active and hunters most want it quiet. Just remember on unposted private land if you're hiking and see hunters, you never know if they may be the landowner or their friends or relatives.


People sure do get outside in winter. I snowshoe, hike, hunt, snowmobile and have sporadically ice fished over the years (the ice is less and less reliably safe with warmer winters, I've been shying away from it lately). Don't hesitate to at least try new things like snowmobiling or even dog sledding, there's places you could try it for a day if you wanted.

[RobinG60]

I currently split my time between nj and vt, will be in vt full time once nj home sells. I've lived in the NW corner of Nj for last 35 years. It's farms, forests and lakes up here. Of course being in this small state, I can be in NYC in just over an hour, or at local big box stores in 10 minutes. But from every window of my 5 acre home, no neighbors in sight. My neighbor to the north is a 100 acre horse farm. I can sit in my yard with a beer and happily watch the horses run around, or go offer some grass to my regulars at the fence.
My back pasture is home, every spring, to deer birthing their young in the untended Russian Olive thickets.I invariably have at least one snapping turtle meander up from the river and lay her eggs in my mulch pile. I have not been thru summer, without sighting, and oftentimes, walking unknowingly close to a mama bear and some cubs. We have a red tailed hawk nest down the road, eagles breeding in the two state parks nearby. This year, I was overrun with bunnies! This is the first year in 7 my perennial gardens were patchy from those hungry babies. We regularly, in our fields, see: snakes, rabbits, woodchucks, skunks,fox, deer, and coyote on the farm. As I am an avid gardener and birder, I have nests and bird homes full every spring with babies and all sorts of lovely birds all year long, along with bees and butterflies. All here in this lovely, non turnpiked area of Nj.
In Vermont, we have 30 acres. We have no visible neighbors, we are surrounded by woods, with lovely old stone wall paths and roads thru the property. So far one dog was porcupined! Ouch. But the deer are not so close, yet. No bear sightings, but scat in the woods of both. The frogs and orange salamanders are everywhere. I'm going to start working on the birds, getting more to hang around. So while nature's animals are all around us in Vt, so far they have not been in our face as they are in nj. Just reasoning they have much more leg room in vt to keep outta sight.

I think u can find nature, right out your back door, no matter where you go. You just need to steer clear of the big urban areas.
That being said, as much as I love my little secluded spot in nj, there it is nothing on the same grand scale as the vast mountains, the large frothy rivers running along the roadsides, the Crystal clear sky at night in Vermont. It is different in Vermont. It is not Albany or Nj.

As for the cold and snow, I don't ski, but am game for sledding with my dawgs and enjoying the post growing season quiet of a warm fire and book.

Good luck in your ventures.

[vter]

In our "neighborhood" (I use the term lightly because we all have 5+acres lots so it doesn't feel like a traditional neighborhood), we have a trail network, so yes, I can leave my door and take a walk in the woods, snowshoe, xcountry ski etc. There are some towns where you can live right in the village centers and walk to public hiking trails - Woodstock, Stowe, Hinesburg and Bristol come to mind. I'm sure there are many more.
I do downhill ski but I also like to snowshoe. I have friends who are avid cross country skiers and some other friends who love to ice fish. Yes..people get out in the winter here.

[Isabella Tiger Moth]

Thank you all so much!! These were the answers I needed. I'm going to pass along your responses to my husband. Now he'll have to believe me.